1. Field
The aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to body armor and in particular to knee and elbow pads providing ballistic and blunt impact protection.
2. Description of Related Art
A recently completed study profiled combat related injuries to U.S. service members participating in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) from October 2001 through January 2005 and found that a majority of these injuries (54%) were to the extremities (“Characterization of Extremity Wounds in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.” J. Orthopedic Trauma 21 (4) 2007). Currently fielded knee and elbow pads attenuate blunt impact but are not designed to provide fragmentation protection.
A Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Topic entitled “Advanced Articulated Soldier Knee and Elbow Protection System” was solicited by the Department of Defense. The topic goal was to design and build a ballistic and blunt-trauma protective knee and elbow pad system that addressed retention, articulation, protection and weight. The pad designs were required to interface with the Army Combat Uniform (ACU) and not degrade maneuverability. Also, the pad system must protect against a 9 mm 124 grain full metal jacket (FMJ) bullet travelling at a speed of 1175 feet per second, as defined by National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Standard 0101.04, Type II. No specific criteria were listed to define the required blunt impact protection except a statement that the pads need to minimize damage from blunt impact. The topic set a relatively large weight limit of 2.0 lb (pound) and 1.5 lb per pad for the knee and elbow pads, respectively. These weight limits are more than three times the weight of current non-ballistic solutions and pads weighing that much will likely have a negative effect on maneuverability.
The integrated elbow and knee pad sub-system of the current Army Combat Uniform (ACU) will only protect against blunt force impacts and scrapes. Ballistic protection has been effectively integrated into the soldier helmet and Interceptor Body Armor but not into the knee and elbow pads. There is a need to mitigate injuries to Soldier extremities while dismounted, such as injuries to knees and elbows. Therefore, there is a need to integrate fragmentation protection with knee and elbow pads to protect the joints and reduce extremity casualties.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide knee and elbow pads that resolves at least some of the problems identified above.